Is the LGBT community getting more mainstream?

It is possible that LGBT communities are getting more and more mainstream, at least according to marketing companies. A Starcom Media Vest Group survey of minority populations suggests that what used to be solely an urban subculture has been integrated into mainstream American society.

Eight distinct groups were identified in the study as being within the LGBT community, and the largest four of those include the “Out & Proud,” the “Beyond the Alphabet,” the “Initiators,” and the “Just Who I Am,” groups. These make up at least 67% of the total LGBT population.

And that last group, according to the survey, has found itself more and more into American mainstream, to the point that they actually don’t prefer to live and socialize within LGBT dominant communities. This mainstreaming effect is beginning to bleed over into politics, where parties are continually finding that embracing LGBT politics is really the best idea.

As Salon reported, talking with Ken Mehlman, former RNC Chair and LGBT, “If you look at attitudes today and where they are headed, it’s clear to me that supporting equal rights, including the rights to civil marriage, is a net positive for winning elections, as well as the right thing to do,” Mehlman said in an interview. “By contrast, opposing equal rights is a net negative that gets problematic to more voters each year.”

Mainstreaming is both a good and a bad thing. On one level, it makes it more likely that a minority group will receive recognition and the rights that it has always deserved. On another, however, it is usually associated with a loss of identity and community as the smaller group is subsumed into the mainstream.